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ozleicester

My Town

By ozleicester, in General Chat

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ozleicester

ozleicester

Posted
Posted

We often have preconcieved ideas, predjudices and opinions about towns and cities around the world, but with such a great spread of Foxtalkers perhaps we could find a few things out and ask and answer some questions.

 

Ill try a start, join in and tell us about where you live?

 

Perth - Western Australia.

 

WA is big... (to quote Douglas Adams)... REALLY big, driving from south to north will take you about 28 hours non stop at 100Ks per hour.

 

Perth is known as the worlds most isolated capital city, we are 3000 ks from the nearest next capital and is perched between a massive desert and the ocean. Being where it is, Perth is fvcking hot in summer, really hot, 40+ degree days occur regularly in summer (Late Nov - early March) and february is hell, for example this february was over 31 degrees for about 25 of 28 days and we didnt really see rain between December and March. The beaches in Perth are the best in the world, the sand is soft, golden and incredibly clean, the sunsets match any postcard youll ever see. 

 

Perth is considered by Australian terms to be a pretty expensive city we are just on the back side of the mining boom (most of the north of the state is made up of iron ore and weve dug it up and sold it to China).

 

A typical house (by Perth terms) which is a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom type, located within 30 minutes of the city will cost around $570,000 or about 280,000 pounds.

28-front-house-close.jpg

 

The average income is around $1400 per week before tax, we have a 10% GST (VAT) and then pay an assortment of state and federal taxes and income tax is around 30%

 

Crime - Perth is pretty safe, car theft and break and enters are probably as common as anywhere. Street robbery and assault is pretty limited and you feel mostly safe walking around the city at night. ICE is having an impact and we have some very active Bikie gangs that are running the underworld, drugs, violence etc, but that doesnt seem to affect the "average Perthite". There are a couple of suburbs and spots that you would feel a little nervous in late at night, but to be honest nothing really.

 

WA has a problem in dealing with its original inhabitants, the federal government (simply the dumbest government in OZ history) are talking of closing down the towns and reserves on which some of the orignal groups live. Calling living in the outback a "lifestyle choice". Given that when the british arrived in Australia and called it Terra Nullius  (nobodies land) and claimed it for Britain. There were believed to be more than 750,000 indigenous people living here at that time and attempted genocide has failed. Its a national shame and disgrace how the indigenous have and are being treated.

 

Excitement - not a lot, being so isolated (as Australia is, let alone Perth) big concerts, performers and shows arent regular, certainly not a someone to see/hear ect every weekend option. The local arts scene has picked up ion the past 5 years, but its a long way from the west end.

 

Sport - Aussie rules dominates, completely dominates. Two teams here Eagles (very successful, rich and popular ), and Fremantle, (less popular, more working class and yet to win a grand final)... guess which one i, as a leicester fan supports.   :) Perth glory are our soccer team, never as good as they should be but the shed end is a joyous place to be all standing, all singing gret atmosphere.

 

Traffic is a bastard if you are heading North or South at peak times being such a large place everyone has a car and everyone uses it to get to/from work.

 

Avg working week is 38 hours, shops are generally only open 9-5,  7 days and till 9 on friday nights.

 

People are generally friendly, its an outdoor city with a stunning river and as mentioned excellent beaches, so all that has people on the streets a lot.

 

Good = Clean, warm, friendly/safe, great employment opportunties

Bad = expensive, lack of culture/entertainment, isolation means going anywhere is at least a 5 hour flight. Sharks, spiders and snakes

 

PerthWaterClickV2.JPG

 

*old pic the city is bigger now, but it shows the layout

Vacamion

Vacamion

Posted
Posted

Nice work, Oz.

Glasgow.

Let's get the bad out of the way first.

It's wet, cold and generally unsunny. We are perennially sick of hearing how sunny it is in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, let alone down South. Don't come here for the climate.

Yes, Glasgow has a reputation for being a bit rough and, in some places, that reputation is deserved. I would contend, however, that it's no rougher than the rough bits of Edinburgh or Dundee (or Birmingham or Manchester for that matter).

Whilst you can't generalise about people too much, Glasgow is rightly famous for its population's willingness to talk to you. I noticed early on that you can't stand at a bus stop or a chip shop without someone striking up a conversation with you. They do love a blether.

They regard the generally more reserved citizens of the East Coast of Scotland as stand offish.

Don't fall for that "Glasgow Hard Man" stereotype, either. In my experience, they fall over when hit just as much as the rest of humanity. They might sound fearsome (which makes them good football managers, for instance) but they are usually very friendly and quite approachable.

Despite being loudly and proudly English, I have hardly ever heard any anti English comments, despite the bitterness of recent political developments (which I won't go into here). They are terrible at guessing where English accents are from, by the way. I've had London, Liverpool, York and Bristol suggested to me when they tried to guess my accent.

People often confuse Glasgow (pop. just under 600k) with Greater Glasgow and the Clyde (pop just over 2 million). Glasgow is surrounded within easy commuting distance by places like Greenock, Paisley, Dumbarton, Cumbernauld, Airdrie, Motherwell and Hamilton.

Glasgow is great at motorways. The M8 runs right through the city. It is joined by 4 other motorways. (by comparison, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee have zero motorways). Getting around is usually quite easy and I wince when I think of the traffic in large towns and cities elsewhere in the UK.

Glasgow has a thriving Asian population and there is no shortage of very decent Curry houses here.

Because of it's size, Glasgow is not short of nightlife and has a famous music scene and venues from small (King Tut's Wah Wah Hut) to medium-sized (The Barrowland) to massive (The Hydro).

Within an hour's drive, you have snow capped mountains, lochs and breathtaking scenery.

If you want a good view of the city, it is surrounded by hills. For me, the best view is driving up the M77, you come down a hill above the city, which (on a clear day) is revealed in all its glory.

Lastly, the language. There's no way round it. They speak differently up here. I would advise two no-no's:

1. Don't attempt a Scottish accent. Hardly any Englishman I ever met can pull it off convincingly and, guess what? They've all heard English people failing to pull it off before and it is mildly annoying to them and makes them feel superior (think Americans doing an English accent).

2. If you don't understand them, say so and ask them to repeat and slow down. I have seen visitors do that "glazed over nodding" thing time and time again. So have the locals. :)

Come and visit.

Mine's a pint of heavy.

ozleicester

ozleicester

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Blaby has an Aldi and a Waitrose...That's about it.

 

FVCK OFF!... its got BOTH??..   :thumbup:   :)

ozleicester

ozleicester

Posted
  • Author
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I can't believe Oz forgot to mention Western Force, home of the honey badger.

 

Popular amonst the ex pats and south Africans, but doesnt really rate amongst the general public, the Badger is ALL STYLIN though.

 

Also home of the Wildcats basketball team, fill the 12,000 seat arena every week, great basketball team and also very successful.

Rothley.

Great chip shop. Madeleine McCann. The ridgeway.

Enough said

 

Wait! .. youve got Madeline? ... this could be big news.

Xen

Xen

Posted
Posted

Rothley.

Great chip shop. Madeleine McCann. The ridgeway.

Enough said

Wait, systonfox is from Rothley?

I feel so conflicted right now...

leicsmac

leicsmac

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Here's my effort - even though I'll be leaving pretty soon.

 

Mokpo - (Republic of) Korea

 

Little city (by Korean standards anyway) located about as far south and west in the country as you can get without hitting the ocean. By the standards of the rest of the country it's pretty isolated, but by the standards of the rest of the world it's clearly not - the third largest city in the country, Gwangju, is 45 minutes away by train or bus and Seoul is only 2 1/2 hours away by high speed train.

 

The one claim to fame I can think of that this city has is that it staged the (now sadly defunct) Korean GP during its brief tenure here.

 

The weather is pretty standard seasonal Korean fare - really cold and dry for five months in the winter (with an odd bit of snow mixed in, but not nearly as much as further north), really hot and humid for five months in summer (ugh), with about a month each way of reasonably temperate and nice weather in between. Not as bad as it sounds, though - you get used to it.

 

Most people live in apartments here, just like the rest of Korea. Obviously anyone who's anyone wants to live in Seoul so from what I can tell land isn't all that expensive down here, and a few people do actually build houses, but most tend to stick to their large six/seven room complexes - normally three or four to one floor of a building.

 

Crime - blue collar crime is practically non existent in Mokpo. Ditto with the rest of the country. If you leave your wallet in a bar or in a taxi, best bet is that you'll have a knock on the door the following morning and someone will be handing it back to you with everything intact. Nor is there much in the way of muggings or robberies. White collar crime however is a different matter - here the big corporations are in bed with the government, and unlike in the West, it really shows. Corruption is a real issue here, and it's one that doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. The government is more accountable than it once was, of course - twenty-five yeard ago this place was an authoritarian dictatorship - but there's still plenty of work to be done.

 

Excitement - There's a pretty decent blend of local and foreign entertainment, though often you have to go to Seoul or Busan to see it. However the local arts scene in Gwanjgu (which is much closer) is pretty active, given the demographic of the people living there and the society being more arty and laid back than further north and east.

 

Sport - Football is ridiculously popular here. The local teams get some coverage but the main focus tends to be on Korean players in different European leagues, in particular the Prem. That means a lot of matches get shown on national TV here. Aside from football, there's a thriving domestic baseball league that gets a good showing too and pretty much whenever a Korean is good at any reasonably big world sport they'll show coverage of it.

 

People are generally friendly, even though the country is massively homogenous by comparison to most other OECD countries. By and large everyone just gets on with their lives with a mix of 'get tha money' competitive capitalism and cohesive national interest when the time arises.

 

Good = Friendly and safe, interesting culture, lots of fun not much travel away from here

Bad = Weather tends to grind after a few months of the same stuff, and to get any food that isn't Korean or horribly processed you do have to go out of the city.

Merging Cultures

Merging Cultures

Posted
Posted

Currently living in Maseru, capital of Lesotho, pop. about 300,000, 29.31°S 27.48°E, 1,600m (5,200ft) above sea level. 

 

History; Maseru was founded by the British as a police camp in 1869, and we were the protectorate of 'Basutoland', which was established after the Boer chased the indigenous population up in to the mountains, capturing the fertile and rich land in Free State. The Brits stopped the fighting, but basically gave away all the good land. Only about 10% of land in Lesotho can be cultivated. Maseru was transferred to the Cape Colony, but they were not treated well, which led to the 'Gun War' of 1881 and in 1884 they became a Crown Colony again. Lesotho became independent in 1966 and Maseru stayed as the capital. The city has been burned down twice, once in 1881 and again in 1998 when South African and Batswanan soldiers intervened following elections and the locals took exception (and burned their own businesses  :dunno:). Following the coup attempt last year and resulting police and military fighting, the recent elections were quiet.

 

Economy: Maseru is the main trade hub for Lesotho and is obviously dependent on South Africa. Much of the food, jobs and businesses are South African. However, there are diamonds and we export a lot of water to Gauteng province. The textile industry is one of the major employers in Maseru. Levis and Guess jeans are produced here, along with a lot of t-shirts for various brands. The factories are Chinese owned, and they pay very little and have massive tax breaks. The working environments are toxic, and there is a lot of abuse of workers. Lesotho is nearly at the bottom, of the 'race to the bottom'. There isn't much entrepreneurship like in other parts of Africa, I think this is largely due to Basotho seeing how South Africans live, and they expect the same formal economy to grow and develop. Which it is, but only to the benefit of the South Africans.

 

Traffic: It's fine, there are few roads really, and they get clogged up at rush hour, but it isn't bad at all. Just watch out for cows and sheep which graze all over the city.

 

Crime: Some South African colleagues of our friends have been tied up at gunpoint and robbed in their home, they have since left. Some friends of ours have had death threats because someone was fired. During the coup there were no police on the streets at all, yet there was no looting, we did hear of one attempted carjacking in our neighbourhood. However, we live in the 'exclusive areas'. My Basotho mates tell me that there is a lot of knife attacks, mostly related to alcohol fuelled rows. There is a lot of domestic abuse.

 

Health: HIV/AIDS; Across the country the rate is 25%, in Maseru it is 40% for women aged 25-40, the reason being they often have multiple partners, and not just for additional income but Basotho are highly sexual (or so I've heard!). Apparently, middle age women in Maseru are taking young lovers, from as young as 12 years old, including street boys. They call this Ben10'ing, there are Facebook groups of women looking for a 'Ben10'. TB is the second highest infection rate after Swazi. People with HIV/AIDS often die of TB, they sort of go hand in hand. A lot of the men either move to the main towns or South Africa for work. They have multiple partners while in the towns/South Africa, and then take whatever STDs they have back to their wife, which then gets passed to her multiple partners. Condoms are free, organisations put them in bars etc. but they just don't use them.  :frusty:

 

Weather: It is always sunny. It gets up to 30+ in the summer (your winter) and gets down to below in winter. We have a ski resort in Lesotho, about 3 hours drive from Maseru.

 

Sports: Football, there is a 'Premier League', I suppose I support Kick4Life, which is a charity set up and run by Brits (they are all Southampton supporters). They have a hotel and the best restaurant in town. Other teams in town include the Lesotho defence force and Lesotho Mounted Police. I am too scared to go and watch them play. Rugby is new, they just had their first league season. When I first arrived I played with the Maseru Kings, but then they had a split and the two main teams are Maseru Giants (who I like) and Maseru Warriors (splitters!). The standard isn't great, but they are a good bunch of guys.

 

Other entertainment: There isn't much. There are a few societies, such as Alliance Francais and the American School PTA that put on dinner dances once a year. Kick4Life are doing a quiz night and have cultural evenings. But that is about it. Which is why we visit Cape Town so frequently!

 

Good: Weather, lack of traffic, friendly people, and relatively safe.

Bad: Not much to do, results in too much time on FT and too much drinking. Poor quality schools.

 

Picture: https://www.google.com/maps/views/view/100646420854298284932/gphoto/6138255609286333330?gl=us&heading=327&pitch=90&fovy=75

Merging Cultures

Merging Cultures

Posted
Posted

That's nothing, Baltimore is in South Africa.

 

Formerly BaltimoreBlue!!

 

Originally from Oadby, moved to London, moved to Mbeya, Tanzania, moved back to London, moved to Monrovia, Liberia, moved back to London, moved to Baltimore, USA moved to Maseru, Lesotho, in the process of moving to Lusaka, Zambia.

 

Now, I just go with MergingCultures so I don't have to keep changing my name.

lgfualol

lgfualol

Posted
Posted

Formerly BaltimoreBlue!!

Originally from Oadby, moved to London, moved to Mbeya, Tanzania, moved back to London, moved to Monrovia, Liberia, moved back to London, moved to Baltimore, USA moved to Maseru, Lesotho, in the process of moving to Lusaka, Zambia.

Now, I just go with MergingCultures so I don't have to keep changing my name.

Interesting. How was life in Liberia?

RobHawk

RobHawk

Posted
Posted

Think that's bad, visit Aberdare / Merthyr.

 

ha ha! To be fair i love Swansea! The Gower is the best and the people are 'tidy'.

 

With the graveyard of ambition quote, they say that once you come here, you will never leave and thats certainly true in my case.

 

For anyone that hasn't seen twin town, well worth a watch and is where the pretty shitty city quote comes from. 

Merging Cultures

Merging Cultures

Posted
Posted

Interesting. How was life in Liberia?

 

It was crazy. I lived there just for a year right after the end of the civil war. At the time it was the largest UN presence. There was no power or running water in the country. For the first 3 months, I had to use a borehole to get water, and a generator for power. Then I moved on to a compound that had its own power and water supply, and it meant I lived right on the beach. Because of all the UN, there were tons of parties to go to, but everything was ridiculously expensive. The Lebanese ran the businesses, and were making a killing. I had to restructure the organisation I was managing, so I had to let a lot of staff go. That meant death threats etc. but I survived. I would have to drive laundry bags full of money up country, which was ridiculous. One time I got stopped in a roadblock by some rebels. I was bricking it, but fortunately the WFP brought a truck of rice for them, and they let us all go. Crazy!!

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